MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. Speaking of neighborhoods, in signs of a rebound from very low levels, according to the MBAA, commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations in the fourth quarter of 2009 were 12% higher than they were during the same period last year and 15% higher than during the third quarter of 2009. Loans for hotels were up 105%, retail loans were up 101%, industrial property loans were up 59%, but multifamily loans were down 8%.
Who are the big commercial servicing companies out there? At the end of 2009, Wells Fargo topped the charts with about $475 billion in U.S. master and primary servicing volume. Next were PNC Real Estate/Midland, Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, Bank of America, KeyBank Real Estate Capital, and GEMSA Loan Services. (A primary servicer is generally responsible for collecting loan payments from borrowers, performing property inspections and other property-related activities. A master servicer typically serves in a fiduciary capacity and is generally responsible for collecting cash and data from primary servicers and then providing that cash and data, through trustees, to investors, per the MBAA.)
GMAC, however, plans to cut over 550 jobs and close three offices in an effort to cut costs. Bloomberg reported that GMAC will cut over 300 positions at Res Cap’s offices in California (DiTech) and North Carolina, according to a spokeswoman. And auto loan servicing offices in NC and Tennessee will close, eliminating another 200+ jobs.
If your lock desk was busier last week, join the crowd. Applications rose 21% from the week before, according to MBAA stats, heading back to volumes similar to mid-December. Is everyone, whoever is left, trying to jump on the refi wagon (refi rocket?) before rates go up? Maybe – apps to refi were up over 26%. Purchases were up over 10%. And the four-week moving average, to catch the trend, showed apps up over 7%. And at this weekend’s Super Bowl party you can tell folks that refi’s still make up 69% of applications.
What is the American Securitization Forum? Darned if I know, exactly, but they were meeting in Washington DC and came out with a statement conjecturing that non-agency product (a $1.2 trillion market 4-5 years ago, $25 billion in ‘08 and $44 billion in ‘09) may start to be securitized again later this year. The reason? There’s more talk about it this year than last! Right now, however, jumbo loan production is pretty small, and profit margins are pretty slim since jumbo rates aren’t all that much higher than agency rates. (I have an idea! Let’s split the pools into tranches, and then have Wall Street work with the rating agencies… oh, never mind, I guess we tried that.) As I mentioned yesterday, banks are holding onto this product, but if other buyers materialize and the loans can be sold at profits, things could loosen up. Whole loan packages and syndications of interests in pools of loans may be steps in the right direction.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajsXmyJJltjs&pos=5